Sens. Merkley, Wyden introduce legislation banning government use of biometric technology

U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) led a group of eight lawmakers who introduced legislation this week banning federal agencies from using facial recognition and other biometric technologies.

The Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act would also prohibit the federal government from providing any support to state and local law enforcement entities that use biometric technologies. The legislation responds to reports that local, state, and federal entities, including law enforcement agencies, have used unregulated facial recognition technologies and that roughly half of U.S. adults are already in facial recognition databases.

“It’s disturbing that our government and law enforcement are continuing to use facial recognition technology, despite the fact that its use has resulted in reports of discriminatory outcomes that has ripped innocent people away from their lives and locked them up in jail,” said Merkley. “This trend should concern every American who stands against discrimination, values their right to privacy and believes people are innocent until proven guilty. That’s why we’re pushing to put in place a federal moratorium on this technology until it’s ready for primetime—meaning critical safeguards are established to ensure that the technology does not further perpetuate systemic racism and that Americans will be protected from inappropriate surveillance.”

While the technology continues to grow, experts have found that facial recognition tools are less accurate when analyzing vulnerable and marginalized populations. An analysis of facial recognition by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that black, brown, and Asian individuals were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white male faces. The technology has already been blamed for the wrongful arrest of three black men in June, leading civil rights groups and others to call for a moratorium on its use.

“Facial recognition technology has been plagued with far too many problems for any government to use it responsibly,” Wyden said. “This technology has been misused against peaceful protestors, sent innocent people to jail, and has proven to misidentify Black Americans and people with dark skin at elevated rates.”

Specifically, the legislation would prohibit the use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies by federal entities; condition federal grant funding to state and local entities, including law enforcement, on those enacting a moratorium on biometric technology; prohibit the use of federal dollars for biometric surveillance systems; prohibit the use of information collected through biometric technologies in any judicial proceedings, and provide rights to individuals whose biometric information is used.